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A thrilling fifth edition of La Course by Le Tour, the women’s race organised by the Tour de France, has led to renewed calls for the race to be expanded into a longer format. However, Kasia Niewiadoma, one of the leading riders in women's peloton, told Telegraph Sport it would be “impossible for a woman” to do a full three-week grand tour like the men, arguing that you “cannot deceive nature”.

In a wonderfully dramatic finale, van Vleuten pipped her compatriot Anna van der Breggen [Boels-Dolmans] to the line, having chased her over the top of the final climb, which was 5km from the finish. Van Vleuten’s deficit over the top of that climb was 10 seconds, and it was more or less the same with around 300 metres to go to the line.

However, van der Breggen, the Olympic gold medallist, ran out of gas on the final ramp, and van Vleuten, fresh from her dominant win at last week’s Giro Rosa, surged past her to win by a solitary second. The 35 year-old, who also won La Course last year, has been on an incredible run since she was involved in a horrific crash at the 2016 Olympics.

“No,” van Vleuten admitted when asked whether she thought she was going to win. “Everything can be possible but I knew if I couldn’t close the gap on the descent that it would be hard. But I don’t give up easy. I saw coming around the last corner with a few hundred metres to go that she was suffering. I’m very proud. It was a super good showcase for women’s cycling. To have it on television and to have such an exciting finish.”

The general consensus afterwards was that the race had been an excellent showcase for women's cycling, which is growing fast with American manufacturer Trek announcing earlier this week that it was launching a women's team to be led by Lizzie Deignan.

The sport is still a long way behind men's cycling in terms of money and exposure, though, with the lack of a women's version of the Tour de France one of the biggest gripes. The women's Giro d'Italia is currently the longest and toughest women's stage race at 10 days.

Many riders used the exposure afforded by La Course to urge ASO to introduce a proper multi-stage ‘women’s Tour de France’, although whether that would be over three weeks, or over the same distances as the men, was a matter for debate.

Today's race was a brilliant showcase for the sportCredit:
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“That was brutal,” remarked Kasia Niewiadoma [Canyon-SRAM] who finished fifth. “Seriously brutal. I am so happy that it is all over. I know there are a few girls who are fighting to have a three-week grand tour but it is impossible for a woman. I don’t know. Maybe they want to be brave, and ‘big girls’ but it’s not for our bodies. We cannot deceive nature.”

Niewiadoma added of the 112.5km route: “I am so happy to just have this distance. I enjoy racing shorter because then it is more aggressive. Every single time when we have 150km or 160km it is just boring. But when we race 110km or 120km things are happening from the start. “I would love to have a Tour de France, that’s for sure. But to be honest I don’t see us racing for three weeks. I think one week is our distance and we have to be honest with ourselves. I think the Giro (10 days) is maximum for us.”

La Course by Le Tour has developed from being a criterium-style race on the Champs Elysees five years ago, to a two-day race last year when it involved a shortened hill-climb stage and then an experimental ‘chase’ style race in Marseille to one long stage this year. Briton Dani Rowe, who finished over 15 minutes down on van Vleuten in 46th, said she would like to see a multi-stage race run on the same days as the men but conceded that was difficult from a logistical point of view.

“I think we’ve proved how exciting our racing is,” Rowe said, “and that we can go over the same mountains as the men.

“I don’t think it needs to be three weeks. I don’t think the stages need to be as long as the men’s. But to have the infrastructure that we have here, and all the crowds, is great. If it was technically possible to run them at the same time that would be brilliant. But of course it’s difficult.”